Basics of Photo & Video - MIPA 2013

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Crash Course in Photo & VideoMIPA 2013

+1. Think in shots

Your viewer can look only where the camera looks

Don’t run the camera non-stop

Collect a variety of shots

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+2. Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes

The closer you get the more emotion you’ll see

+3. Keep your shots short

Stick to 10 seconds in length

Shoot pre and post-roll to make sure you have it

+4. Use a tripod…please.

Even if you don’t think you shake, you do.

Move, Point, Shoot, Stop.

If you don’t have one, fake it.

+5. Zoom with your feet

Avoid using zoom

If you need to get closer, physically move closer

Ever watch a professional news photog? They don’t care about being rude.

+6. Keep the light behind you

Your camera finds the brightest light

More light = crisper shot

+7. Avoid flashy digital effects

Just because your camera can do it, doesn’t mean you should use it.

Same goes for editing. Cut & Fade/Dissolve are your friends

+8. Easy on Graphics

Think simple and clean

Keep them on screen long enough

Use them purposefully

+9. Keep it short

Rubbermaid Rule

90 seconds

Media overload

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+10. Use an external mic (if possible)

Cameras adjust their own sound levels Background noise

+Take the pledge.

I, [state your name], promise not to inflict lame video on my friends, relatives, fellow classmates, or complete strangers who might find it on YouTube because I put something inappropriate in the title.

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I hereby promise that I will always keep the microphone very close to the people talking or use an external mic if I’m too far away.

If the picture is too dark to see, I won’t use it.

If I left my thumb in front of the lens, I won’t use that shot.

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If the person I’m shooting is so far away you can’t even see them, I promise not to make anyone watch – not even my mother- for more than 10 seconds.

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Unless it’s footage I accidentally took of a once-in-a-lifetime thing, like a Justin Verlander no-hitter or a thief breaking into my car, I promise to keep jerky, hard-to-follow video entirely to myself, erasing it where possible.

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I pledge to conform to a higher technical standard, realizing that making someone watch bad video is disresectful, that in most cases they would chew off their leg to get away from it, and that technical problems will keep them from appreciating the funny/cute/beneficial/talented/shocking thing I’m trying to share with them in the first place.

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In short, I pledge to think about how to make quality video for my audience at the same time as I’m thinking about getting my point across. I won’t make anyone watch anything so crappy-looking that I wouldn’t watch it voluntarily if they handed it to me.

The end.

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http://youtu.be/S7emdl_NmWE